Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

SELAS

T he cuff keeping me from shifting is off, and as the minutes tick toward midnight, I can't help but wonder if this is some kind of test. A trick. But the doubts fade as quickly as they take form. Benny wouldn't be so cruel.

If he says the door will be open at midnight, then he means it.

So I wait, dressed in lastonflex, ready to escape into the night. To shift into my goyle for the first time in weeks and fly.

My leg throbs dully. Shifting will hurt. It might damage me further, but I can't let a little pain hold me back from warning my friends.

The clock finally hits midnight, and with a soft snick and scrape, the locks disengage. He did it. Still, I wait several seconds before trying the door. Benny waits for me in the gloom, the smell of nervous sweat permeating the air.

This is real.

This is happening.

And the vibrant flashes of color blooming in his aura communicate his love for me.

There's no guile here. He's risking my father's wrath to let me out.

I glance up and down the gloomy corridor. "Where is he?"

"Out. He won't be back till just before dawn."

"If he finds me gone, he'll know you let me out."

"I know, and I don't care. I've stood by idly for long enough while he allowed our secret to consume him. I won't let it consume you too."

"Our secret? What do you mean?"

He steers me toward the stairs. "There are certain unions that are forbidden to our kind, Selas. Your father and I share such a union."

Understanding dawns. "Oh…Benny…"

"I love you," he says, "as if you were my own, but I'm tired and I'm old. I'm done hiding. If they want to punish me, they can. But you…you must go." He tugs something from his pocket. The shadowy form looks like a book. He hands it to me. "Take this. It's your father's. It holds information that might help you stop the enemy. Now go and save the elite. Save our world."

He stayed all these years not only for me but for my father. Out of love for us both.

I hug him and kiss the top of his head. "I love you, Benny."

I limp down the stairs and out into the night.